Poof'd
by Adi Lanson
Summary: Gone, from the point of view of Mariko Foster, Adi Lanson, Jaclyn Lenow and the Humblebees.


Poof'd, go fan-fiction. Of the book gone.

Some of the characters and plot belong to Michael Grant.

written by Mariko Foster, Adi Lanson and Jaclyn Lenow.

Chapter One  
He Just Poof'd, Man.

"You don't have to do questions 27 a), or 34 b) and c)."

The class sighed in relief. A little less questions to do was a lot on such a big test. Sailor's hand immediately shot in the air.  
"Yes Miss. Parker?" Mr. Grey asks her. The whole class sighs again, for they know what's coming next.  
"Mr. Grey: I completely understand these questions, and I think everyone else does too. I see no real reason why we should skip them," She says. The class groans.  
"If you insist, is there anyone who argues?" No one says a thing. The class is terrified of Mr. Grey. "Alright then, here are your tests. If you're stuck, you can skip, but make sure in the end, you answer all 72 questions.  
"Boo! Boo-ooo!" The class' heads all turn to the back to face Caine Soren.  
"Mr. Soren, please mind your man-"  
Mr. Grey was gone.  
He disappeared. He vanished.  
"Did... Did anyone else see that?" Says the kid next to Caine.  
"Holy gob." Says another voice.  
"Gob?" Asks a young girl with bleached blonde hair, named Jaclyn Lenow.  
"Umm..."  
"Fail, total fail!" She laughs.  
"Why are you guys laughing?!" Carah Yovel demands, "Where is Mr. Grey?!"  
"Was he even here in the first place? Does Mr. Grey even exist? Oooh!"  
Says Pablo Jobs sarcastically. Caine stood up at the back of the classroom.  
"Look, we don't have to get too worked up about this you guys! He'll be back."  
"Caine's right, you guys, we can't freak out. Mr. G will be back soon-"  
The door swung open.  
"Mr. Grey! Mr. Grey!" The class stared at the boy blankly. "Mr. Grey?"  
"Jonas?" Sailor asked, "Are you okay?"  
"Where's your teacher? Where is Mr. G?" Jonas Thompson said hastily, nearly shouting.  
"We don't know," Caine said calmly, "But he's certainly not here. Jonas, where is your teacher at the moment?"  
"I don't know... He just poofed, man.."

"And that, is how math... is... FUN! Now class, here's your homework, in-"  
Mrs. Gravi was gone.  
Mariko Foster looked back and forth quickly. "Where's Mrs. Gravi?"  
"In my belly," replied Adi Lanson-Fling. Mariko laughed, it was a joke between them.  
"Ha ha, very funny. But seriously, where's Gravi?" Mariko pressed.  
"I don't know, but Mrs. Gravi certainly isn't here." replied Adi.  
"Dude! Mrs. Gravi just vanished before our eyes! Why are you so friggin calm!?" Exclaimed Joshua, "What the heck is going on here!?"  
"Kevin's gone too!"  
"I do' know man! I do' know..." Mabel stammered.  
"Well... should we go check the other classes?" said a young voice. Mariko was still in shock, she heard footsteps in the hallway.  
"Mariko?" Adi asked, "Mariko, are you alright?"  
"Come on," Mariko grabbed Adi's arm and started to drag her, "Lets go outside."  
"Mar- Mariko! I can walk!" Adi said, trying to loosen Mariko's grasp. Mariko looked at her, her catlike green eyes stabbing right through her.  
"Come on."

Out in the hallways, it was chaos. Kids running back and forth, everywhere. Mariko let go of Adi's arm, but kept close to her, for there were kids everywhere. Adi held Mariko's hand, and Mariko didn't pull away. They were very good friends, from when they were little.  
Suddenly Adi was on the floor.  
"Ow!" She said, brushing off her pink summer dress, and putting her scarlet hair behind her ears and picking up her books.  
"Sorry," Howard sneered, "you got in Orc's way."  
"Yeah." Orc grunted.  
"Make way!" Howard called again.  
"What a bit-" Mariko started,  
"Mariko! Little kids go to this school too!" Adi noted, pointing at a young kid holding his backpack saying, "Mrs. Holly? Mrs. Holly? Have you seen my teacher?"  
Howard gave them a salute then walked off  
Mariko stared gruffly at him.  
"Man, what a bi..." Adi turned around to see Luka, Mariko's older brother standing behind her, glaring at Howard.  
"Runs in the family." Mariko smiled. Adi made a face, and Luka just shrugged.  
"Hey, you seen Anni?" Luka asked.  
"No," Mariko said. "Oh wait! He stayed home today, 'member? He was feeling sick." Mariko said sarcastically. Anakin skipped school often because he was, "sick".  
"He's probably still at home with dad, playing Minecraft." Mariko stated.  
"What makes you think you're dad's there? How... How do you know that he didn't vanish like Mrs. Gravi?" Adi whispered.  
There was a silence between the three. No one said a thing.

RING RING! The silence was broken by the bell.. They watched kids run down the hall to check the office. Adi almost wanted to go, but she didn't. Luka hugged Mariko, and she pushed away playfully.  
"Come on, lets go home," Luka smiled, his green eyes twinkling.

The walk was hell for hated listening to Mariko and Luka get along so well. She envied them. Her life at home wasn't so good. Her dad was married for the third time to a women 15 years younger than him, AKA, nine years older than Adi. She didn't love her father, she loved his money and looks. Adi once found one of the many playboy magazines in her dad's room with a women on the cover that looked oddly similar to her step-mom. Her siblings? They were another story: Jez was the second oldest, and a sad attempt at goth. She quit after she forgot her black lipstick three days in a row. She hated Adi with all her heart, and always does bad things and frames Adi, just for attention. Iggy and Conan were equally bad. The annoying Iggy would distract her somehow, with his annoying voice usually, and then Conan would attack her, literally attack! He was one of those sports pro kids that can do a triple backflip 360 or whatever...  
The only person in her family who she could actually stand was her youngest sister Krystal, who was only 6, although she was very mature.  
Mariko's Family however? Not half as bad. Her mom was a bit of a pain, and they fought sometimes, but at least they always made up and hugged it out. Her dad was like, the 'fun-dad' and was a total Star Wars geek. He raised Luka in a Star Wars themed room, then Mariko was given the middlename Leia, like Princess Leia, from Star Wars, then finally, for their third and final child, they gave him the first name Anakin. Luka was one of the rare species that never fought with his siblings, and actually helped them make up when they fought, and Anakin was a cutie who was very close to Mariko. It just... Made her so mad, so jealous.  
Adi shoved Mariko a bit with her shoulder as they were going around a corner. When Mariko turned around she felt bad immediately.  
"Umm... Ow?" Mariko stammered.  
"Sorry... I just... I'm stressed out." Adi said with her head down.  
"Come on girls," Luka said cutting in between them, squeezing their heads, in his with his arms (He was very tall compared to them) "Let's go find Anni."

"Dad? Dad the server crashed! Can you put it back up? Daddio? Hello? Mom!?" Anakin Foster called from the basement of his house, sitting at the computer desk, eating Twizzlers with a can of Dr. Pepper. He took a big bite. He didn't think anything was wrong, they were probably just outside. "Mo-ooooooooom!" He called. He sighed as he pushed away from the computer desk and trudged up the stairs.  
"Dad! The server's are all down! Are we connected to the internet? DAD! THE INTERNET'S DOWN! HELLO?" His mom should be working in her office. He checked. Not there. But all of her papers were on the ground.  
"Wow.. Mom is so untidy." When he got into the kitchen where his dad was watching Star Wars, episode 4 for the 13th time this month, the CD casing was laying open, with the TV left staticing.  
"Hmm... weird... Dad? I need you too put the server back up!" Anakin said impatiently.  
The door slammed open.  
"DAD! Put the server back up! Please-?" Anakin had said to the wrong person.  
"Anakin? Its just me..." Says Mariko awkwardly. "Is... is dad home?" She asked hopefully,  
"Yeah, somewhere I think," Mariko's face lit up, "but a I can't find him, anywhere! And the internet is down, and cable's broken."  
"So he's gone, too, huh?" Mariko puffed.  
"What are you talking about?" Anakin asked.  
"Come on Anni, I need to talk to you, about... about something serious," Luka said calmly.  
"What is it? Did he finally give up on Star Wars?" Anakin laughed, knowing nothing.  
Luka showed him to the living room where they spoke about the disappearance of the adults.  
Mariko and Adi sat in an awkward silence for sighed and said,  
"Look, I'm sorry I shoved you earlier. It wasn't very nice of me. I... I guess I just kinda envy you and your family.."  
"Huh? Why?" Mariko asked, puzzled.  
"I.. don't know-"  
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!  
"Huh," Mariko smiled, "Luka's cake is done."  
"His cake?"  
"Yeah, it's his birthday." Mariko said calmly. Then gasped loudly, "Oh my goodness! How old was Kevin? He was the oldest in our grade, 'member? 15."  
"Did we check Luka's class?"  
"Hes the youngest in his grade-"  
They were cut off by a bloodcurdling scream.  
"Doesn't sound like he's taking it to well," Mariko said. The door in the other room slammed open.  
"MARIKO!" Anakin hollered, "MARIKO! Luka's gone!"  
"What?!" Mariko and Adi said together.  
"He disappeared! HE'S GONE MARIKO!" Anakin cried.  
"He... He's gone? Like, did... did he like vanish?" Anakin nodded. Mariko gave him a hug.  
"It's okay Anni, he'll be back soon, I promise. He'll be back soon."

Chapter Two  
Dominant.

The bell rang. Jaclyn Chase Lenow and Sailor Hannah Parker were wondering the halls in panic. They were worried like all the rest of the students. Some kid had gone into the office and paged all of the students down to the gymnasium. Jaclyn was eager to go, but Sailor not so much. They snuck across the school and found Adalyn Helena Topi wandering the halls just as they had been.  
"O-M-G! Mrs. Hooper just blinked out!" Said Adalyn in her 'gossipy' voice.  
"You haven't noticed? Mr. Grey disappeared too." Jaclyn said in a glum voice.  
"Yeah! I know, I think all the adults are gone! I've noticed, that everyone 14 and up is gone. So it's not just adults. Oh yea! B-T-W, when are your B-days?"  
"Well, why do you ask?" wondered Jaclyn  
"I know that you're 14, and when you turn 15, I want to know what happens." Adalyn cheered. Despite their age difference, Adalyn being a year younger, she and Jaclyn were close friends.  
"Mine is not 'till the end of the year." Sailor said with relief.  
"Oh gosh... My 15th birthday is in about two months!"  
Jaclyn said in disbelief.  
"The adults will be back by then, though." Sailor said. "Or at least that's what I heard from Carol, who heard it from Max, who heard it from Andrea, who heard it from Jack, who heard it from Mary, who heard it from Glen, who heard it from..."  
"We get it Sailor!" Adalyn and Jaclyn said in unison.  
"How long do you think it'll really last? I just hope they return soon." Jaclyn puffed.  
'All students... uh... everyone one I guess... Please come down to the gym for an emergency assembly.' The loudspeakers released a lazy voice throughout the school. There was a an angry voice in the background, barking demands. 'Gosh... Oh yeah, and please remain calm!'  
"I guess we should head down the gym then, L-O-L," Adalyn said, laughing.  
"Okay, if you insist," Jaclyn sighed.

* * * * *  
"Put on something nicer than that, Caine!" Diana Ladris demanded, "It makes you look gay!" Caine shot her a look as he brushed off his maroon shirt, with some kind of a coat of arms, with horses on it, only making it look even more gay.  
"I like it! And I don't have time to change anyway, kids are arriving." Caine mumbled.  
Drake snickered.  
"What are you laughing at?" Caine growled,  
"Nothin'."  
"I will mess. You. Up, Drake!"  
"Whatever." Drake waved him off.  
"Go on out, Caine. They're waiting." Daina pushed him forward.  
Caine slowly stepped out onto the stage made of tables, that just happened to be set up, for the school play was happening that weekend. All the kids made Caine Soren nervous, glancing out at the crowd. Lots laughed at his shirt. He stood his ground though.  
"Silence!" He shouted, and everyone went quiet, although not by choice. Something, something was forcing them to do so.  
"Hello, as you may know, my name, is Caine Soren. This is Diana Ladris and Drake Merwin." Drake gave the crowd a small salute, and Diana just ignored them all. "And as you all know, the adults are gone. Gone, gone, gone. And we don't know if they're are gonna ever be back," The crowd gasped. "We really do not know."  
"But Carol said that Max said-" Sailor began,  
"Sailor shut up!" Jaclyn whispered.  
"Anyway, there is something, though, that you must know. I know it may seem impossible, and it surprised me myself. But, I am not normal-"  
"Caine we know you're gay, can we go-" The voice from the crowd was cut off, he started to scream some rather rude things.  
"My mom, got me this shirt!" Caine said to the boy, who was being suspended by nothing, 20 feet in the air.  
"HOLY– PUT ME DOWN! HOLY CRAP! PUT ME DOWN! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE? Put! Me! Down, NOW!" The kid stopped flailing, and started to fall, the whole crowd watched in silence as he fell.  
"AH! NO! NO! NO! HOLY CRAP-" He stopped falling. He was gently put down, by... by Caine.  
"Now, I think we understand each other."  
"Umm... yes.. yes." The crowd mumbled.  
Sailor looked Jaclyn in the eyes. Jaclyn looked back. Staring into Sailor's periwinkle eyes, she knew what she was thinking.  
I. Hate. Him.

"Holy moly! Do you guys see that?" Kamiko Saeki exclaimed, with very noticeable Japanese accent. It was still very strong, even after three years in the United States. She hated it.  
"What?" her older brother, Haru (whose accent was completely gone) said, gaping at the thing in front of them. "What is it?"  
"Mai? What is tha- Guys? Where's Mai?" Peggy questioned looking around frantically.  
There were six of them. James, Haru, Kamiko, Peggy, Spencer, and Nick. All of them 12 years old, but Haru, who was 14, and the 'group helper'. The other six of them were troubled kids. Troubled kids with parents who didn't want them at Coates.  
They had a little camp type place called HumbleBees set up on the border of Perdido Beach. They were going on a camping trip to help 'clear their minds' and 'help us learn to get closer'.  
"Uh oh, Piggy's scared," Spencer joked. Peggy was always quite overweight. But people didn't really take advantage of her, until she dyed her hair bright pink, then they couldn't resist, also, as said earlier, these kids were troubled.  
"Stop calling me Piggy! You're the PIG!" That did it, the others burst out laughing except Haru.  
"Guys, shut up, where the heck is Mai? Our 'group leader' for the week?" Haru looked around nervously.  
"Come on Haru, you don't relate to any funny animal. Don't make us nickname you something worse than Piggy." Nick laughed.  
"No-no, guys, re- really, where, where, where, where, is she...? Umm... Mai! Um, M-Ma-aai?" said James, stuttering just as much as usual.  
"Hello?! GUYS! I'm talking to you! Does anyone else see that?! You are acting so calm! What the kooki is it?" Kamiko shouted over the others.  
Usually someone would comment on her odd language, but they were too freaked out to say anything.  
Before them was a wall. It was a opaque shimmery thing, like you couldn't really tell if it was there.  
"What... what is it...?" Piggy said, walking up to it. "Is it like a portal? Is Mai on the other side?"  
Piggy's hand was three feet away from the barrier, two feet, one, half, almost there...  
"Stop!" came a voice behind them. "Are you an idiot?"  
"Yes," Spencer whispered to Nick, Nick laughed.  
They turned around to see a young girl. She had black flowing hair, down to her hips. She had clearly been growing it out for some time. Her skin was pale and her eye dim green. They looked sad.  
"Who are you?" Piggy said in her stupid voice.  
"My name is Olive. And don't touch the wall." She warned.  
"You can't tell us what to do!" said the HumbleBees, the usual reply they give to a demand. All at the same time the laid their palms against the walls.  
"AOWH! AH! AH! AH! Ooooh man! It hurts! It hurts!" Spencer cried.  
"Told you so. Come on, I have a camp set up."  
"Where is Mai, our group leader?" Nick asked.  
"Are you serious?" Olive questioned.  
"We noticed that she's gone, and we can't find her."  
"You just noticed?" Olive asked again, even more irritated.  
"All the adults in this area are gone.  
"All."

Caine explained to the group of students, that he wasn't the only one with powers.  
"Diana here, has them too." The crowd gasped. Some flinched. One ran out. "Yes, only her power is very much different than mine. She can hold your hand and find out your power level. Zero bars being 100% normal, 4 bars, well... Like me," Caine smiled creepily.  
"I have all the class lists, and you will all be read. Lets start with," Caine looked at his sheet. "Levy Abacae." A young African-American girl, maybe 7 years old walked up to Caine. He pointed at Diana. She made her way over and held her hand.  
"Zero." She announced. The young girl started crying. Either because she had no powers, or she was just overwhelmed .  
Or scared.  
"Cailin Abenaki," Caine called.  
An older boy walked onto the stage and gave Diana his hand. He flinched when she called out:  
"1 bar!"  
This went on and on until it 'L' came up.  
"Marty Lemo!"  
"Zero!"  
"Heloise Lenai!"  
"Zero!"  
"Jaclyn Lenow!"  
No.. Not me... not now...  
"Jaclyn Lenow!"  
Jaclyn got up. She turned to the exit, and ran.  
"Jaclyn?" Sailor called. Caine put his arm up to stop her, but Diana warned him not to.  
"Let her go, Caine. Let her go."

Chapter three  
Secrets.

Jaclyn ran faster than she ever could. She knew she was different. She knew she had the powers. Jaclyn had never shown anyone, and never would. But at least now, she knew. She knew she wasn't the only one.  
Jaclyn stopped, she stood right beside the janitors closet, and stared at the door, swiftly opening it, and locking herself in. She backed away into the back wall, and slouched down into the corner, and sulked.  
"What will I do? They're bound to find out soon... I need... I can't ever let it happen again. Never-" Jaclyn stopped. Her skirt felt cold. She lifted her head and saw that her skirt was wet.  
No.  
There was water, rising slowly. About an inch off the ground at the most. She stood up – the water, rising even higher and higher, was at about 10 inches already. It was rising that quick. She gaped at the entrance.. The water was being flushed under the door.  
Out into the hall.  
Where anyone could see it.  
"Jaclyn?" She heard Sailor's voice in the hall.  
Jaclyn suddenly went silent. Waiting for the steps to leave.  
No. Please, no...

Adi ran, she couldn't stand to be around Mariko and her family. It hurt her too much. Watching them laugh together and well...like each other. It made her sick.  
So Adi ran away from their house, while Mariko and Anakin were talking. Off to her own.  
Krystal would be at home and if any of her half siblings had any brains then they would be there to.  
As soon as Adi burst through the door she was met with four pairs of wide, staring eyes.  
"Your home." Jez said just as Adi walked through the door.  
Jez's long black hair was tied up in a large knot on the top of her head. She could have been pretty, if she had actually tried. Jez really didn't care though, to Adi it seemed that she had dedicated her life to making Adi's miserable.  
Jezebel was home schooled, because her sad attempt at a mom didn't want her under the stress of what others thought, like she had been.  
Mom...  
She was gone, and that was that. Not that much of a disappointment though. But she was still kinda bummed out.  
"Where's my mom?" Jez demanded.

"What do you mean your mom? She's legally mine now, too." Adi said, glaring at Jez. Jez, Conan, and Iggy burst out laughing.  
"Lookee here, Little Miss. Princess still thinks she's part of the family!" Jez howled with laughter.  
"Heh heh heh, yeah, weirdo!" Iggy stuttered. They laughed at her, they insulted her. Conan came up and punched her in the arm.  
"Dad?" She called up the stairs as the three tortured her, dragging her down back to the door.  
"Aw! Poor Adi wants her daddy."  
"Have you ever noticed how ugly he is?" Jez said to Conan.  
"You're one to talk!" Conan replied, laughing.  
"You little-!" Jez turned to him and punched him square in the nose. Iggy was back and forth.  
It was chaos.  
It was like this everyday.  
Adi started to cry.  
Why did she come home again? Oh yeah: Because of Mariko.  
"Bwahaha!" Jez laughed, yanking on her Scarlet hair, pulling out at fair amount. Iggy bit her ear and said, "Omnomnom! You tasté liké spaghetti-ay" In his annoying voice, with a sad attempt of an italian accent.  
"Silence!" came a girl's voice from the kitchen. She sounded about 12. She walked into the foyer. Her strawberry blonde hair in a side ponytail on top of her head. She had on a black skin tight tank top and short jean shorts. Her toenails painted hot pink.  
She was six.  
Six and a half. Her name was Krystal Cyzarine Lanson-Fling. And she was more matured than all of Adi's other siblings combined.  
"Thank God you're here!" Adi sighed.  
"We're not done with you yet-" Conan started.  
"Yes you are, Conan! Jeez. Go away." Krystal said.  
"Bu- bu- bu-" Conan argued.  
"Go away. Now." Krystal replied, standing her ground.  
"Fine." Conan trudged outside to play ball, Jez went out the front door and Iggy went upstairs to the computer room.  
"Krystal... Something bad happened today-"  
"It's okay, Adi. I already know.  
"I already know."

"So, where you from?" Olive questioned Piggy.  
"The farm!" Spencer whispered to Nick. Nick burst out laughing.  
"I'm from Vancouver." Piggy said, ignoring them.  
"So you're Canadian, 'eh?" Olive asked.  
"No one even says that! STOP MAKING FUN!" Piggy spazzed.  
"I'm not making fun, Peggy. I'm Canadian too. I'm from Saskatoon."  
"Oh..." Piggy said in a voice that made it sound like she had a bad cold.  
They were in a small tent about a kilometer away from where the HumbleBees were found by Olive. It was right next to the barrier.  
"So, what's going on here?" Haru asked Olive. She was his age. He liked her from the start. She was just so pretty...  
Haru! You already have a girlfriend! Not as pretty.. but... well, what's the big deal.. She'll never know...  
Haru shook his head.  
No. You can't be like that You can't. You are dedicated to Amy. No one else. That's... that's wrong.  
It's wrong.  
...How wrong?

Sailor stumbled through the halls.  
Where could Jaclyn be? Why did she run off like that?  
She kept walking, then slipped on the wet floor. She fell onto one of her elbows and her head smacked on the linoleum floor.  
She sat up, crying silently. She cried alot, but it wasn't for anyone else to see. She got up to her feet, only to slip again, although not as bad this time, but it was enough to make her cry in pain. She sat sprawled out on the wet floor.  
Jaclyn heard it, but didn't say anything. It wasn't any of her business... who was she kidding? It was her business. She was the reason she fell.  
"Dammit! My head hurts so friggin' bad..." Sailor whimpered to herself, mouth full of tears. That surprised Jaclyn. The worst word she had ever heard Sailor say was 'jerk', and she had trouble with even that one.  
The water inside the janitor's closet was higher than Jaclyn now, and Jaclyn wasn't that short. She was treading water, but she was a terrible swimmer, in fact, she had never learned to swim, even though she lived by the ocean; literally, she had a beach plot. The janitor's closet had a very tall roof, maybe 12 feet tall, because it had stairs in it to the top floor, but they were made so you could only get on at the bottom, and where Jaclyn was, they were covered by a wall.  
She was too high to grab a shelf or anything, and she was slowly drowning in the 5x7 foot room. She heard the sound of the door being rattled below her.  
"Hello...? What's going on in there?" It was Sailor. Jaclyn knew what had to be done.  
"Sailor! It's me, Jaclyn. Open the door! But watch out, it's full of water!"  
"Why?" Sailor asks, referring to the water.  
"Because-" Jaclyn stopped herself. "I don't know, just open it, okay?"  
Sailor nods, then remembers Jaclyn can't see her and says yes. Sailor walks up to the door, watching her feet to make sure she doesn't slip again, and grabs the handle.  
Locked.  
She shakes her head and then tries harder.  
"It's no use!" She exclaims, "It's locked up!" Jaclyn's eye's widened. She had locked the door from the outside... and taken the key in with her. She looked into her hand. She still had it. She looked up, barely staying above the water. There was maybe three feet left, and the water was only rising faster. As she took a deep breath and made her first attempt to get down to the door, hoping to slide the key under, she made it to about five feet down, then ran out of air and came up to the surface - Without the key. She barely managed to get just a glimpse of it before she saw it float away down to the bottom of the room and disappear.  
"Jaclyn! Jaclyn? Can you pass me the key?" Sailor was still shouting.  
"Not really, I-" The water was at the ceiling. The room was completely flooded. For a split second, Jaclyn swore she took a breath of air under the water.

Chapter Four  
Visions

"Where'd Adi go?" Anakin asked Mariko.  
"She ran home . I saw her leave," Mariko replied.  
"She didn't say goodbye to me!" Anakin exclaimed.  
"She didn't say goodbye to me either. She's like that, you'll get used to it." Mariko glanced at the clock on the counter. They were in the kitchen. Mariko had an average sized house. When you walked in,you had the living room with red fuzzy carpet to your left, and the kitchen with yellow tile your right. When they had moved in, the house was gloomy, and Mariko's mom wanted to dress it up, and she went pretty overbored. The worst of it was the office. The walls were blue like the sky, and the extra shaggy carpet was green, so it seemed like grass. When her mother made the connection, she paid some lady to come paint flowers and landscapes on the wall. It sounded cool when she talked about it. Then you saw it.  
Mariko walked into the living room and up the staircase on the back wall. That's where all the bedrooms were. She walked up to her mom and dad's room, peered in, then closed the door. Mariko couldn't find anyone, she turned around and went down the stairs to the kitchen.  
"Anni, we're gonna go to the plaza, " Mariko said with no joke in her voice.  
"Okay..." he replied, a little more calmed.  
They head out the door and start to walk down the street.  
"Is it just me... or do you smell smoke?" Anakin mumbled.  
"It's okay little dude, just stay by my side."

Sailor was flipping out. What could she do? Her best friend was drowning, and she couldn't do anything.  
She couldn't do anything. She heard Jaclyn's voice get cut off, and she knew she had gone under. She assumed that there was a broken pipe or something, and it had started to leak. But... that didn't make sense, and the way she ran off... Sailor started to put it together in her head.  
"Powers! Powers! She has the powers!" She exclaimed to herself, looking at her hands.  
"She has... the powers..." Sailor said to herself. She heard someone running down the hallway.  
"Stop- Wait!" She was too late. Adalyn spun out and fell hard on her head. This water on the floor was really a hazard. Adalyn looked up at Sailor.  
"Sailor?" She asked, "What's wrong?"  
"Jaclyn's in there!" She said pointing to the door.  
"So...?" Sailor looked at the floor, the water had stopped flowing. She saw a small key fly under the door.  
"Sailor? You still out there?" came Jaclyn's voice.  
"Bu- bu-" Sailor stammered.  
Adalyn opened the door.  
Jaclyn was soaked, but no one mentioned anything about it.  
"Phew! Is Caine around?" Jaclyn asked.  
"No, why? And why did you run out?" Adalyn replied.  
"I don't like being in front of crowds," Jaclyn lied. "And to be honest... Caine kinda scares me," She laughed, Adalyn did too.  
"I agree. Oh, and I wanted to tell you, a bunch of kids are heading down the hill soon, and it's getting late, so the time to go would be now." Adalyn explained. "And I'm heading down if you are."  
"I'd like to go," Jaclyn said, looking at Sailor. "You know, for a while..."  
"Let's get out of here! Thank... you... Adalyn!" Sailor exclaimed squeezing Adalyn.  
"Alright, they're in the front loop. Come on!" Adalyn added. She led them through the hall, going on and on about the trip.  
"We'll all walk down together, it'll be fun."

After the assembly, Caine took Diana to the lunchroom to talk to her about Jaclyn Lenow's odd departure.  
"I just don't understand why she would leave so suddenly like that.  
It doesn't make sense," Caine sighed. He was sitting at a table, with Diana next to him, pacing.  
"She's probably already noticed she's a mutant freak, and doesn't want us to know," Diana suggested.  
"Geez, I never thought of that. What if she's a four bar?"  
"I highly doubt that. There was only one 3 bar in the whole school, and he has a lame power anyway."  
"Who again?" Caine asked.  
"That kid who eats all those bugs." Caine shuddered. It wasn't a pretty thing to watch happen.  
"People call him Bug," Caine said.  
"Ah. That makes sense." Caine sat still, staring at the bag of carrots sitting on the floor. He picked them up with his telekinesis, and opened the bag.  
"Please don't tell me you're going to eat those." Caine a stared at her blankly.  
"Uh, no," he said, trying to convince her that he would never do a thing like that, then, with a wave of his hand, hurling them across the room. They hit the wall and splattered. Carrots stared at the orange goo on the wall, slowly trickling down the blue cement, right next to the counter where she had ordered food only a few hours before.  
"Caine," Diana started, Caine looked up at her, "Caine, what would happen if that was a person?" He sat there, trying to understand what she meant. "What would happen if you let that kid in the audience drop? What if you hurled him against a wall?" Diana asked, for once, showing fear in her eyes. Caine stretched his arms out in the grey table, knocking over the salt.  
"Then that would suck for him," he said picking up the salt shaker, and throwing some over his left shoulder, then putting his hands behind his head and leaning back on his chair.  
"This isn't funny Caine. I'm scared," Diana whispered.  
"Oh really? Sweet Diana's finally scared?"Caine and Diana turned to see Drake, leaning against the door frame of the lunchroom. His sandy blonde hair sticking up in all directions.  
"Not of you, that's for sure," Diana said, with a smirk on her face.  
"Caine," Drake snarled, "That girl who ran out today; I saw her in that hall. She was soaked." Drake started to walk towards them. Diana sat on the bench next to Caine, and Drake sat across from them.  
"She was wet? Weird, I wonder why." Caine scratched his head.  
"She's going down to Perdido." Drake flashed Caine a creepy smile.  
"What?" Caine said, pushing his bench away from the table, causing Diana to wobble. "If she goes down the hill, we may never see her again!"  
"I know. That's why I'll offer to go fetch her for you," Drake smiled again. He got up and stared hard at Caine. Caine stared back. He looked at Diana, she shook her head ever so slightly, that it was easy to miss.  
Caine missed it.  
"Go find her Drake."

"What do you mean you know?" Adi asked Kryztal.  
"I know everything Adi, I just do."  
They had walked into the kitchen and Kryztal was making Kraft Dinner, standing on her little pink stove to reach the oven. She was very intelligent for her age.  
"Know what?" Iggy screamed from up the stairs. He was eavesdropping, as usual. "Adi what happened?"  
He jumped over the railing and ran to tackle her again, but then as his eyes found Krystal's stern face and he backed away.  
"The adults are gone. We don't know what happened to them. They just disappeared, poofed, gone.  
"Adi waited to see what her step-family thought of what she said.  
"Yeah, right. I'm calling mom," Iggy laughed. He ran past Adi making sure to shove her as hard as he could with his shoulder. Adi watched his face turn to disappointment, as he heard the phone beep. Adi had tried calling already. The phones were down. As well as the internet, and cable. Iggy glared at her, like it was all her fault.  
"What?" Adi questioned. Adi heard the door slam. Conan had come inside. His 'spidey-senses' told him it was time gang up on Adi.  
"She made mom go away."  
"What? I knew she always hated you - she made that clear to me, but she left?" Conan thought allowed.  
Those words hurt Adi. She swallowed her tears.  
"Shut up you guys!" Adi said, covering her face.  
"You guys are misunderstanding. All the adults in the entire area are gone. They're probably coming back soon though - I'm sure of it," Kryztal explained. Conan looked at Kryztal, then at Adi, then back at Kryztal.  
"So... There's no adults here?" Conan asked Adi hopefully.  
"None?" Iggy added. Adi started to notice where this was going, then started to back into the kitchen, but it was too late.  
"Omnomnom! Here I come-nomnom!" Iggy exclaimed.  
He ran at her, and things became just as bad as they were before.  
Hitting Adi, punching Adi, and attempting to eat Adi.  
Desperately Adi cried out, hiding her tears, scared of what Krystal would think of her. Knowing it wouldn't be bad, but scared never the less.  
"Stop it!" Cried Krystal. "Would you like it if I did all that to you? If I just went up and hit you? How would you like that?"  
That didn't stop Iggy and Conan. Almost nothing did the last few days. Nothing could stop them from hurting Adi.  
"Oh, just look at our bigger sister cry." Conan teased. "Just like a little baby. Crying for her mommy, and daddy. Boo hoo hoo."  
Adi stood immobile while she was being harassed, tears streaming down her face. By now she knew it was too hard to fight back. It was two against one. Adi was helpless against them. None of her previous strategies worked. So she just stopped trying.  
She knew what would happen next. Krystal would try and stop them, but she would fail. Jez would usually go and threat Kryztal, (although Kryztal was safe from that for now) leaving Iggy and Conan to do all the physical work. They would pull her scarlet hair, make fun of her violet eyes. And there was plenty punches in there too. Not stopping until their parents came home, giving them some sort of excuse for why Adi was covered in bruises. Of course no parents would be coming home today to stop them.  
After a while Adi hardly felt the punches anymore, she felt dull. Just an oncoming nothing, swallowing her up, dimming her senses. Cutting of her hearing, leaving only a loud silence. All of her taste buds seemed to dull, until not even the air had a taste. Slowly her nose closed up, cutting off the smell of her sweat and her sorrow. Every cell in Adi's body seemed to disappear, one at a time, her mind all that was left. Last to go her sight, black started to dot her vision, swallowing up her eyes, then the black faded. And the pictures appeared.

Mariko was scared. She knew that smell. She knew it was smoke.  
When she was just two years old when her house burnt down. Her mom barely made it out alive, because she was just weeks before giving birth to Anakin. They all made it out alive, all but Bubbles.  
Mariko had never told anyone about Bubbles. She never told anyone the story of how Bubbles, her fish had died.  
It was late summer, and Mariko was playing dolls in her pink room.  
"Barbie: You wear too much pink! Here, have this blue shirt to wear to the dance." Mariko smiled to herself. Mariko couldn't undo the snaps on the back of the shirt. Luka always did that for her - but he was at daycare.  
"Mommy! Mommy!" Mariko called down the hall. Suddenly, Mariko covered her ears. The fire alarms were blaring. She saw tongues of orange and red flame crawl up the stairs.  
"Momma? Mommy!" Mariko cried. She heard her dad running up the stairs, through the fire.  
He's amazing! Mariko thought. He picked her up and ran outside.  
"Stay here," He said, putting her down beside a telephone pole.  
"But - My barbie!" Mariko complained.  
"Stay!"  
"Yes." Mariko watched her dad run back to the house. She waited for what seemed like forever, but finally saw her dad emerge from the burning wreck with her mom in his arms.  
But she looked different. Mariko later learned that she suffered second-degree burns on her forehead and the side of her left arm. But they all made it out alive.  
3 days later, Mariko remembered Bubbles. She got the fish for her second birthday. It wasn't like she ever fed it or anything - her parents just told her it was hers to make her day, but she was devastated. She had stopped grieving her fish now, but the smell of smoke burned in her nostrils. She kept walking. Anakin ran ahead, and Mariko let him go. She trudged along and heard shouting behind her.  
"Mariko! Mariko!" It was Adi. Mariko smiled. Even though Adi ran off like that earlier, Mariko had forgiven her immediately. That's why they made such a good pair. Adi did things that would usually hurt peoples feelings, but they never affected Mariko. She understood.  
Adi looked like she just went through hell. Dark purple, green, blue and brown made up most of her. You could barely see any of her pale skin. One eyes was puffy and almost swollen shut, showing off very little of her deep violet iris. Scarlet coloured hair was a mess on top of Adi's head, tangled up in a crazy halo surrounding her.A thin stream of blood trickled down the side of her mouth, coming from her split lip.  
Mariko saw Adi like this often. Beaten up by her siblings. Mariko had learned not to say anything though, Adi was very sensitive towards what happened in her family and any mention of what she looked like would set her off screaming about how Mariko should stay out of her life. That was just Adi.  
Biting her lip, Mariko looked away from Adi, keeping her comments inside.  
"Mariko! You will never believe what just happened. You will... never believe."  
"What do you mean?" Mariko stammered, The parts of Adi's face that weren't covered in bruises, were bright red - she ran all the way. Adi held up her hand, motioning Mariko to wait, and started panting. Finally she looked up.  
"Mariko. Do you know anyone named Sailor?" Adi asked.  
"What?" Mariko asked.  
"Sailor? You know anyone?" Adi repeated.  
"Yeah. But she goes to Coates.I haven't seen her in awhile." Mariko explained, "We were best friends when I was little. Then she was sent to Coates."  
"Why?" Adi asked.  
"She has ADHD and her foster parents were convinced that Coates could get rid of that," Mariko explained. "I see her rarely now, but she's still a close friend."  
"Hmm..." Adi was silent.  
"Why do you ask? Did you meet her recently?" Mariko asked Adi, who was clearly thinking very hard. "No, I... I saw her. I saw, well... pictures. Like, uh..." Adi stammered.  
"What do you mean...? I don't-"  
"We have to go up to Coates. We have to help her, and Jaclyn. Adalyn too."  
"What? What are you talking about?" Mariko questioned.  
"I saw pictures," Adi grabbed Mariko's shoulders and shook her, then just gripped them tight, "I saw her with two other girls, Adalyn and Jaclyn." Mariko stared at her, "There was a boy too... with sandy blonde hair. He... I think he was after them."  
Mariko thought about this for a second, What could she mean? She turned to the direction of the plaza, and heard lots of commotion.  
"Anakin! What's going on up there?" Mariko called. She saw his dark blue eyes, full of fear.  
"Fire, Mariko! There's a fire!"

Chapter Five  
Arrive on time.

Jaclyn and Sailor walked up to the front loop with Adalyn trailing behind, gossiping without anyone really paying attention.  
"So I just heard that, like, Caine has, like, a crush on, like Diana." Adalyn went on, not noticing that Jaclyn and Sailor really didn't care. "And I think that, like, he'll, like, float her around or something. I-D-K. It's all too much for one day!" Adalyn put her head up to her forehead and pretended to faint.  
Jaclyn paused. Hearing something, she just ignored it.  
"What is it?" asked Sailor.  
"Oh, nothing. Just thought I heard something." Jaclyn answered. The farther the group got, the more times Jaclyn paused.  
"Sailor? Do you hear anything?" Jaclyn questioned.  
"No... Jaclyn, do you have like, dog hearing or something? Jeez, everything is fine."  
"I guess so," Jaclyn sighed.  
Drake saw them walking down the hill. The front gates were closing behind them. He snuck in just in time.  
She's not getting away... I know that for sure, Drake thought to himself. He snuck up and started walking right next to them. Jaclyn didn't miss that face.  
"Umm.. Hello?" She stammered.  
"Jaclyn Lenow. I was wondering, why did you leave so suddenly?" Drake questioned.  
"I want to go check if my parents are home. Now can you leave us be?" Jaclyn stopped walking and crossed her arms. Adalyn did the same beside her, and Sailor just gaped at them. Drake was a bully at school, and no one - not even Jaclyn - had ever stood up to him before.  
"What do you want, Drake?" Drake tuned Adalyn.  
"I want Jaclyn to come back with me, too be read." Jaclyn's proud look she had on her face, shattered.  
No, no, no, no!  
"No. I don't need to be read. I know that this whole thing is just a trick, and you're just messing with me. You can't make me go." Jaclyn lied, then hesitated.  
"Oh really? Watch me." said Drake while glaring deep into Jaclyn's eyes. He grabbed her by the arms, and starting to drag her. She screamed, and pushed away, but Drake's grip did not loosen.  
"Adalyn! Help me!" Jaclyn said, eyes full of tears. No one could know. No one. No one! NO ONE!  
Carah saw all of this. She knew it shouldn't be happening. She knew Drake was bad. He was a hard-core bully. He was a crazy martial arts kinda dude, or so she thought. The thing was, he knew how to fight. By that, I mean fight well.  
She stared and stared. The whole bunch of kids were watching this. Drake twisted her arms in impossible ways. Carah heard her screams. Drake picked up the flailing girl, and started to run.  
"Jackee! Jackee!" Adalyn called.  
"No, no, no... Jaclyn!" Sailor cried out, chewing her nails.  
Drake dragged her by her arms, her heels dragging on the dirt road.  
Carah knew she had to do something.  
And she knew something she could do.

Piggy yawned loudly  
"Oh knock it off, will ya'?" Nick whined. "It's only seven, and Piggy's ready for her nappy-naps."  
"No I'm not! I'm not... tired! I'm -" Piggy stopped.  
"...Peggy...?" Olive stammered.  
"BWAHAHA! She's asleep!" Spencer laughed.  
"Wow. That's sad," Kamiko giggled. Haru gave her a look. Kamiko shrugged,  
"Sorry." She pulled a blanket over herself.  
The seven HumbleBees were sitting in a small blue tent, full of blankets, just getting to know each other.  
"So..." Haru broke the silence. "Where are you from, Olive?"  
"I'm from Saskatchewan, Canada. But I'm living with my uncle, Jim Brown for the year. He's a gold miner..." Olive trailed off.  
"What is it Ollie?" James snorted, trying to flirt.  
"One: Never call me that again. Two: Blow your nose." That got a good look out of James, "Three: Well... the thing is; he goes to the mineshaft everyday, and... a week ago, see, he just didn't come back," Olive stammered. Her dimly lit green eyes looked fearful for a change. "I went searching for Jim, and I went down the road to the mine," Olive looked down at her hands in her lap – she was wearing a camo tank top with a knee-length skirt over some bache pants, with black boots with skull designs on them, yet somehow, she looked amazing.  
"When I found him... well... He was dead." Haru shook his head.  
Dead?  
"When was that?" he whispered.  
"Seven days ago, now. As soon as I saw him, I knew I needed to get to Perdido Beach, because there is no surviving out here alone. I gathered my things and started to, well... walk around I guess. To be truthful I had no idea in hell where I was going."  
"So, how did you get here?" James snorted.  
"I was wondering around, I had my pack and everything, and it was getting late. Thank God, I stumbled into someone else's campsite. They family let me spend the night with them - they were very nice - but the next morning I told them I needed to go, and get to Perdido Beach. They helped me pack my bag, and I was off again.  
"A mile or so later, I came across a family of six. Parents, two boys, and two girls. All of them maybe a few years older than me. I was very lost, and this time I asked for directions, which of course got them interested.  
"'Where are you from, and why are you alone?'  
"'Are you hungry? Would you like some snacks?' They were very nice, but I knew this was personal information. Uncle Jim wouldn't want any police around his shack, investigating, uh... because, well... he just wouldn't." Olive stammered. She was hiding something.  
"Well why not?" Haru asked, leaning in.  
"It doesn't matter! Okay?" Olive spat at him. He sat back down, he felt terrible.  
"S... Sorry, Olive. I didn't mean to..."  
"No. No, I'm sorry. I'm overreacting."  
"Please, continue." Haru put his hand on Olive's, and gave her a cheap smile. "Please."  
"Well, I didn't tell them why I was out, but I told them I needed to get to Perdido Beach. But halfway through talking, they just vanished."  
"Like... They ran away?" Nick asked hopefully.  
"No. They simply vanished. One second there, the next, gone."  
"That... That's not possible," Haru complained.  
"You think I didn't notice?" Olive glared at him, "I was terrified. I had no idea what was going on, no one to ask. My uncle just died, and the adults sheltering me vanished. What the heck was going on?" She shook her head violently. "Anyway, I eventually found my way back to the campsite I was at before. I heard a baby crying. No one to help it. There were no adults - no matter where I looked. I left the baby, which I really regret now, but I didn't know any better. So I gathered up all the supplies and headed toward Perido.  
"Awhile later, I came upon a wall. It was as tall as I could see, and went down as far as I could dig. I don't think it ever ends." Olive sighed.  
"That's not possible! Nothing goes on forever!" Kamiko argued. "Nothing!"  
"Well if you want to try and find the end, be my guest. I want to go find the adults," Olive laid down and pulled a blanket over herself, and used a pillow to prop up her head.  
"Wait... so you're saying, that there's no adults?" Spencer said slowly,  
"No one to tell us what to do...?"  
"No one?"  
"Nope. They're all gone," Olive frowned. The HumbleBees smiled creepily at each other. Haru looked at Olive.  
He looked scared.

The sun was setting, and Mariko knew Adi wasn't lying. She did lot's of things for attention, considering she got none at home, but she never lied. Adi was a good person. After lots of begging, Mariko agreed.  
They were going up to Coates to see what was going on. Sailor, was in trouble, and Sailor was Mariko's friend. Mariko brushed her crazy, thick black hair to the side, and nodded.  
"Let's go." They started jogging through the crowded plaza.  
"Mariko! Wait! Where 'you going?" Anakin called after them. Mariko stopped in her tracks.  
"Oh right, little sibling alert," she turned to him. "What is it, Anni?"  
"Where are you going?" He begged.  
"Coates," Mariko sighed, like it was no big deal.  
"Coates?! Can I come?" He asked eagerly.  
"No. Sorry, bro, but this is for us, only." Anakin stared at her. His lip quivered.  
"Are you going to go find... dad?" He literally whimpered.  
Mariko gasped, "No, we're going to go find Sailor, 'member her?"  
"Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah, I do."  
"Mariko you know there's a fire, right"  
"Don't worry. I'm sure someone will put it out." Mariko put a comforting hand and Anakin's shoulder. "Just go home and play minecraft, kay?"  
"The servers down."  
"Then play single player. Now we got to go. Ok?  
Anakin nodded. He looked uneasy.  
"Mariko... Please stay," Anakin pleaded.  
"I want to, but... Look, just go find Luka... Uh..." Mariko trailed off. It was getting late.  
"Look, we have to go now, bye," she finished, and ran away with Adi.  
Everything was crazy at the plaza, Anakin stumbled around, bumping into everyone he passed.  
He saw a tall girl who he recognized from one of Mariko's classes. She was tall and thin, wearing a pale blue blouse. Her wavy blonde hair was about shoulder length and her stabbing blue eyes shined when she turned in his direction. For whatever reason, Anakin approached her.  
"You're Anna, right?" He asked her.  
"Astrid." she said without looking at him.  
"Hi." They stood in silence, kids running back in forth around them. She seemed to be the only person in that area who was calm.  
"So what's up?" He asked her in the wrong voice.  
"Are you hitting on me? Dude: I'm like, four years older than you," she said.  
"Two years, if you're fourteen. And no. I just want to know what's going on," he said gruffly as he sat down cross-legged, and pouted like a four year old.  
"Now I'm ten years older than you," Astrid smiled.  
"Huh?" Anakin asked, not getting the joke. Astrid stuck out her hand.  
"I'm Astrid."  
"I heard," Anakin said rudely as he shook her hand.  
"My name's Anni - er... Anakin," his face turned red with embarrassment.  
"Really? Like Anakin Skywalker?"  
"Uh-huh." The first thing they all said. Most people were attracted to him because of his name, not because of him.  
"What an interesting name. Must get you a lot of attention, huh."  
"Yeah, sure," Anakin mumbled, not really listening, "So, like, what's going on here? Who's gonna put out the fire?"  
"I don't know if anyone will, but my friend Sam-" She was cut off by a blinding light. It exploded from the burning building, like lightning.  
"What the...?" Astrid mumbled.  
"What's happening?" Anakin shouted over the screams of the crowd.  
Suddenly, there was a firetruck there. The ladder extended up to the highest window. Some kid was at the top of ladder. Anakin watched in awe as a boy passed the baby to the boy at the top of the ladder, and ran back into the building. Soon he was out.  
The crowed cheered in excitement.  
"Sam has done it! He saved her!"  
Sam approached Astrid.  
"Hey..." he wheezed.  
"Are you okay? What was that light?" she asked him. His back straighten, he looked like he'd just been slapped.  
"Err... what light?" He tried to lie, failing.  
"Nevermind... is the little girl okay?"  
"Uh..." Sam stuttered.  
Anakin knew it was time to leave them.

Mariko slowly walked up to a navy blue van.  
"You've driven before, right?" Adi stammered.  
"Haha, yeah, don't you worry," Mariko said as if she was trying to convince herself. She reached through the open window and unlocked the car. It had crashed into a telephone pole, but it was in good condition.  
"Although, don't like... get mad at me if we crash or anything..." Mariko joked. Adi was uneasy.  
Mariko put the key in the ignition, and put the van into reverse and backed away from the telephone pole. She turned slightly and they were ready drive down the road. She switched it back into drive, and pressed on the gas. The car jerked forwards, but Mariko steadied it out, and they were moving. It was about maybe twenty miles/hour or so, but they were moving.  
They were moving, and Adi wasn't dead.  
Mariko gasped loudly in relief. She hadn't killed them yet. The two girls drove in silence for a couple seconds before Marko said, "Adi: tell me exactly what you saw."  
Adi looked at Mariko and then at the ground. "I don't know. Iggy and Conan were beating me up and then I just went...like...I dunno...Numb I guess. All my senses sort of disappeared and then...I don't know. Have you ever seen a old black and white movie?"  
"Uh... No" Mariko answered.  
"Well the movie is silent, no sound at all. And the pictures flicker across the screen, real fast. That was what is was like. Images flickering across a screen. No sound, just the pictures."  
"Okay then." Mariko wasn't sure if Adi was lying. To her it seemed pretty far fetched. "Continue."  
"The pictures. I saw that girl I asked you about. Sailor. And then thiss blonde girl. She was being dragged away by some creepy dude in a Coates uniform. Another girl was with her, Adalyn, I think her name was. And another, um, Jack? Jaclyn? Uhg. It's fuzzy.099004 Really that's all I saw. The pictures just disappeared. Then I went numb again. It was like, when the pictures were happening, all there was were the pictures. I didn't have a body or a mind. All it was were those pictures."  
Mariko stared at her. One thing about Adi was she tended to over exaggerate a bit. All that happened was that Adi siblings just hit her head pretty hard or something and then she blacked out. Maybe she had some sort of dream or something. Mariko still didn't want to take chances so she would go up to Coates and check things out. Most likely everything would be fine. Fine. Everything would be fine.

"Jaclyn." Carah whispered. Carah wasn't one to get involved with things. She was popular and mixing with the wrong people could mess that up, but watching Drake drag Jaclyn away like that, it was too much.  
"Jaclyn." Carah said a little louder. "Jaclyn."  
For a second Jaclyn's large green, tear filled eyes met Carahs, then she looked away.  
Staring down at her hand Carah walked towards Drake.  
She stopped three feet away from them, still staring at her hand, willing it to obey her.  
Please. Please.  
"Ooooh." Drake sneered. "Little miss popular sticking up for the freaks."  
Carah didn't move, just stared at her hand.  
Please. Please.  
"Come on dummy. Are you going to do something or just stand there like a moron?"  
Please. Please.  
Drakes grip tightened around Jaclyns arm, causing her to cry out in pain  
Please. Please.  
"Well, what are you going to do?" Drake teased Carah. "If you aren't going to do anything then leave. I have business with this girl." Drake twisted Jaclyns a little bit more.  
Please.  
Slowly, like a stain seeping into a carpet, a green mark inched its way up Drakes arm. Starting from a single green cell, spreading like a wild fire.  
Carah saw the small green stain growing on Drakes arm and smiled.

Anakin stood awkwardly in the crowd. It was wild, kids running back and forth, everyone was breaking into stores, stealing stuff, it was wrong. He stumbled towards a tall building with smoke billowing up into the grey sky.  
The sky. It looked different somehow. Different, but he couldn't make it out.  
"Anakin?" He turned around to see Kryztal standing behind him. Her strawberry blonde hair was falling out of it's ponytail and the short hairs were sticking up all over her head.  
"Anakin: Adi and Mariko are going up to Coates."  
"Yeah, I know. They just left," Anakin said. Anakin looked at Krystal. She looked to be his age, around 12. She was very short though. Her dark blue eyes stared accusingly at him while more hair came out of it's ponytail. She wore knee high boots and a black halter-top with cut off jean shorts. Yep around 10, maybe 11 at least.  
Anakin only knew Krystal because of Adi. Mariko and Adi were best friends and when they went over to each others houses for dinner they almost always brought Anakin along. Adi had some kind of idea that if Mariko brought Anakin along then Iggy and Conan would leave her alone.  
Truthfully, Anakin hated Adi's step-brothers. They always teased him about his name and such, so every once in a while Anakin would go and hang out with Krystal.  
"Yeah, Coates." Crystal had a light tone in her voice that implied that she was smarter than him.  
"I saw Adi and Mariko. They told me they had some business up there."  
"Well their business could get them killed!" Krystal stared at Anakin.  
"Killed? how do you that?"  
"I just know!"  
Anakin stared at Krystal for a few seconds before answering. "I'm sure nothing is wrong. Why don't you go home and watch Twilight or something." Anakin said naming the only girl movie he could think of.  
"Twilight?" Krystal asked skeptically. "I'm too young."  
"I watched that movie with Mariko when I was only nine."  
"Well I'm not nine."  
"Okay, how old are you, then?"  
"I'm six and a half," she giggled.  
"Six!" Anakin stared at her. "You joking right?"  
"No I'm six. How old did you think I was?"  
"A little younger than me, maybe my age."  
"Well we've got that out of the way. Now will you help me?"

Carah swore to herself silently. The green stain was still spreading, but Drake hadn't noticed.  
Come On, she silently pleaded, Just look at your arm.  
By now Drake was dragging Jaclyn away again. Jaclyn turned her head for a second. Just long enough to glimpse Drake's almost completely green arm.  
"Whaaa...? Ahhhhhhh!" Jaclyn screamed.  
"Scared of me, are you?" Drake taunted.  
"You-you-your arm."  
Drake didn't let go, but he looked down. Now he let go.  
"Wha...? AH! GREEN!? WHAT!?" He screamed like a child, trying to shake loose the ever growing stain of green.  
"Uhg... I think I'm gonna hurl..." Suddenly Drake was on his hands and knees. He was pale, and looked downright sick.  
"I didn't know it made him sick..." Carah whispered to herself. Drake gagged, and coughed loudly, next, he vomited his entire breakfast up on the road.  
Everyone stared, disgusted, and what had just been the most dangerous person here, to the weakest. But Carah knew she could do more. Silently, she lifted one finger, and Drake's arm turn bright red.  
"AH!" He screamed even louder this time. "OOHH! It burns! It burns!" The stain had reached his torso, and started spreading down to his legs and up his body. Jaclyn was still staring in disbelief. Everyone was, even Carah. Suddenly she came to her senses.  
"Jaclyn. RUN!"  
And so she did.

Chapter 6  
TO BE NAMED  
Mariko and Adi pulled over and climbed out of the car. They could see the school in the distance, but they saw the mob first. Tons of kids, and one was screaming - a lot.  
"What the...?" Mariko heard Adi say.  
"What is happening?"  
"I don't know." Mariko answered, "But I don't think it's good." Mariko looked around the inside of the car and found and old wooden baseball-bat with the paint chipping off.  
"Perfect..." she smiled.  
"What are you...?"  
"Just in case."  
They ran up to the big group of kids. There was plenty screaming and violence.  
Suddenly, a girl pushed past them, her long bleached blonde hair waved crazily in the wind.  
"It's her! It's that girl, err... Jaclyn!"  
The girl stopped in her tracks, and turned to see the two girls staring at her.  
"Who...?" Jaclyn was cut off when she was pushed to the ground, and pinned.  
"It's that guy... umm... AHG! I forget his name!" Adi stammered.  
"Drake! Get off'a me!" Jaclyn called, trying to grab his face, resulting in both her arms being tucked behind her back, bent in impossible ways.  
"Ahh!" she screamed. All the other students of Coates who were planning to go to Perdido had actually left the scene. They didn't want a part in this. Even Carah, which was pretty bad for Jaclyn. She saw the red starting to fade. Drake noticed too. He turned his attention back to her. He put both her arms in one hand, and pulled back the other, very suspensefully. Mariko stared, she knew what he was about to do, she knew what she had to do. Adi looked at her.  
"Mariko! No!"  
She ignored her advice.  
"AHHHH!" Mariko hollered as she ran to Drake, his fist flew towards Jaclyn's perfect face, but he was knocked aside: Mariko had slammed her baseball-bat into the side of his ribs.  
"Awwoh!" He shouted in pain, and sat there, sitting in his own world of pain. He'd felt worse, much worse, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.  
"Come on!" Mariko called to Jaclyn. Suddenly, a little girl popped out of a shrub next to the road where she was well hidden.  
"Is he dead?" she asked hopefully. She was answered by a loud, very insulting shout, coming from the body lying on the ground.  
"...Sailor...?" Mariko whispered.  
"Mariko!" Sailor shouted, she ran to her and jumped into her arms. "Mariko! Mariko! Mariko!"  
"Woah, woah Sailor!" Mariko pushed her off, and stared at the face, smiling up at her. Sailor wasn't that short, but Mariko was very tall.  
"It's been a long time," Mariko smiled at her.  
"Hi, I'm Adi." Adi said, butting in  
"Oh, uh, hello," Sailor answered, slightly stunned at her sudden appearance in the conversation.  
"How did you know to come up here?" Jaclyn questioned.  
Suddenly, Drake stirred, rather violently.  
"No time! Let's go!" Mariko shouted, pushing them forwards to the blue van, she took one second to pick up the baseball-bat, checked if no one was looking, then hurled it at Drake once more. She heard him moan in pain.  
It was like music to her ears.

*this part is put in later in the story and is not part of the plot at the moment.*

That night Adi cried herself to sleep. Even her step-mom, Sugar, would have been welcome. Anyone, anyone over 15. Her body ached as sobs shook her body.  
As always, when Adi was upset she pictured her life, what it was like, how she liked it. All it did was made her cry harder, but sometimes she just needed to do it.  
Adi's dad had always been picture perfect, great job, big house, pretty wife, handsome, rich, then Adi's mom left. One night when Adi was around 8 her father and mother had a fight. Not the sort of fight where they would disagree for few minutes, but hug it out afterwards. No this was a big fight. Screaming, yelling, crying and destroying. That's what Adi remembered the most, plates, glasses, really anything that could be thrown, launched at each other. Adi couldn't remember if anything hit it's mark, but she could still hear their voices sometimes.  
"I saw you with her!"  
"It's not what you think! I swear!"  
"Oh yeah? Tell me, then why did I see your lips on hers?"  
"Just listen to me please! It wasn't what it seems!"  
"Then what was it?"  
That's when the plates started flying, and the rather nasty words were released.  
The next day Adi's mother filed for a divorce. Within months she drove away, leaving Adi, her father and a Still nursing Krystal behind.  
Sugar, one of her step-moms, was one of the ladies that Adi's mom saw kissing in the park. Adi's dad was a player. Because of that woman Adi's mom left her, to deal with her dad's many wives and step-siblings.  
Women didn't last long for Adi's dad. Her own mom only lasted 6 years. Then there had been Sandy. Then Megan. Then and now Sugar.  
Sugar didn't love Adi's dad, she loved his money. That was it money. So anything Sugar wanted, Sugar got.  
Perdido beach hadn't been where Adi grew up, Sugar said that it would be a great place to move.  
Sugar also said that buying a house on the water was too cheap, that they should build a house. So that's what Adi's father did, he build Sugar the mansion of her dreams, 6 car garage, private swimming pool, kids pool and a small bunk house.  
It was Sugar who said that Adi should sleep in the bunk-house. That it would be good for her young mind to have some independence. For a teenager it would be heaven, their own private house, for a 9 year old Adi it was hell. Every night she would climb out of her bed, walk across their lawn and sneak into the house. It was more than large enough for Adi to sleep in, 3 bedroom that were never occupied. Sugar would come down in the morning a see small Adi curled up in a ball sleeping on the couch, or floor, or anywhere. It was also Sugar who put a lock on the outside of Adi's door, keeping the screaming child in all night.  
Now Adi realized that if Krystal had of been older, than she too would have been locked in with Adi. Sugar just wanted to get rid of anyone who wasn't hers, keeping Sugars family in and Adi's family out, well except for her dad, Sugar wanted to keep him in.  
The sobs turned into wails, she just couldn't stop. It was all too much. Her life was too much.  
When Adi was 11 she went to talk to her dad about how she thought Sugar was just using him for his money and how he didn't care about her any longer. They had a big fight, then they made up, Adi's dad promising to spend more time with her.  
At the time Adi thought her dad would keep his promise, she was wrong.  
Three days after her dad made his promise he told Adi he had entered her in a beauty pageant with Sugar. He said the mother daughter pageant would be a great way they could bond. Sugar said it would be a great idea, they could both go shopping together and Sugar could do Adi's hair and makeup. At the time there was no way Adi could say no, even if she wanted to.  
That pageant was the first of many, Adi's dad still ignored her, forgetting his promise, and if Adi ever brought it up then he would say 'I spend time with you at pageants. And you should be grateful that you can show your beauty to the world with me Adair.'  
Adair. Adi's real name. A name that for years she was teased for.  
"Hey let me give you 'A Dare' Adair!" Followed by laughter.  
It might not have been much but for a 6 year old Adi it was too much to handle. The one good thing she could find in the move was she could change her name. Start over. So she changed her name to Adi, saying to her dad 'Let it just be a nickname for Adair'. After a lot of begging her dad agreed.  
The pageants still continued her dad 'spending time with her' coaching her on what to say how to act. Adi became her dad's trophy that he could parade around.  
"Yep, my little Adair has won 4 pageants now!" He would brag.  
That's all Adi was, a trophy meant to be shown at times and hidden at others.  
Mariko was the first person Adi talked to in Perdido beach.  
They had met while at a pageant. They both thought that it was wrong, and they would both rather be anywhere else. It was Mariko who first made Adi laugh, and it was Mariko who first came over to Adi's house. Mariko was Adi's first friend.


End file.
